Jo Yong-Pil, Lee Seung-Cheol, Jeon In-Kwon; trot and LPs; Bae Chang-Ho films and TV Dramas with Choi Buram. The 80s in Korea might be known to many people outside the country for the Gwangju massacre or the democratization process, but there's more than that, especially looking at popular trends back then. Bae Chang-Ho's films in this case are the most important, as they always underlined that 'outsider' feeling, especially in his glorious 고래사냥 (Whale Hunting) films. Perhaps remaining his most memorable roles, Ahn Sung-Gi played a 'professional homeless' dispensing priceless street philosophy, having fun at the expense of the system, and seeing things stripped of the value given to them by class divide or politics. While social protest films are always mentioned when discussing Korean Cinema, Bae Chang-Ho's films were always the most popular. In some ways it feels like today's Chungmuro: Park Chan-Wook, Im Kwon-Taek and Hong Sang-Soo are (deservedly) on everyone's mouth, but someone else rules box office at home, changes popular trends with just a couple of very distinctive films: this generation's Bae Chang-Ho, the outsider. Lee Joon-Ik.
When most people's idea of blockbuster was a bloated exercise in going over-budget, he went out and shot a Sageuk for less than 5 Billion Won, thanks to his pragmatic modus operandi and faith in storytelling and good acting. The result, as you probably know by now, was the 12 Million tickets-seller 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown), Korea's most successful film of all time, and -- I might add -- the new model to follow for Chungmuro: out stars, in good actors; out Korean Wave bait, in celebration of Korea's unique identity; out flashy puppy love melodramas, in films full of 사람냄새 (smell of people). Exactly because he was an outsider himself -- up until a few months ago, he was driving a crappy red car he kept from the shoot of 간첩 리철진 (The Spy), and he always thinks twice before spending other people's money, which you'll agree is a little different from what was the norm in Chungmuro -- Lee started shaking the foundations of the industry, making people understand it's with good ideas that you make great films, not a bunch of pretty faces.
The result? Little surprises like 달콤, 살벌한 연인 (My Scary Girl), which cost a mere 900 Million Won and went on to pass the 2 Million tickets, and there's more of that coming, including low-budget affairs from big names like Ryu Seung-Wan -- 짝패 (The City of Violence) -- and Park Chan-Wook -- 싸이보그지만 괜찮아 (I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok). Now that Lee has paid all his debts and has become a star director, thanks to the amazing success of his last film, he could do anything he wanted. A huge Sageuk blockbuster? Possible. A big star vehicle with huge names? No problem. But that wouldn't be him... as he's making a rather low budget, 'analogue' film about a 80s rock star who can't deal with the fact his days in the limelight are just about over. His new 'bittersweet outsiders' comedy'? 라디오 스타 (Radio Star).
Choi Gon (Park Joong-Hoon) was one of the top star of the 80s, winning the 1988 KBS 가수왕 (The King of Singers) and enjoying incredible popularity back then. Of course, just like any big star would do, he believes his own BS: he's the King of Singers indeed, nobody can take that away from him. Problem is that he's the only one thinking that. Him and his longtime friend and manager Park Min-Soo (Ahn Sung-Gi). Working at a shabby club in Misari, Gon has to endure the pain of customers looking down on him, and even the owner treats him like a stool. There's one last chance for him: accepting the offer of hosting a Radio Show in a small radio in Kangwon Province. The name of his show? 최곤의 정오의 희망곡 (Choi Gon's Midday Songs of Hope). At the beginning all he does is cause trouble, still acting like a superstar from Seoul, still thinking people actually pay attention to him -- perhaps because his manager lets him believe that. But then, surprise surprise, he starts growing on people, be it his 'throwback to the 80s' style in this technology-crazy Korea or whatever else... but he finally becomes a star. How do two people going through a mid-life crisis find their way back when it seemed like everyone was ignoring them?
I confess I've been waiting for this film ever since news were circulating around early 2005. Yes, this film was under-planning even before The King and The Clown, but its process didn't go as smooth as those involved first thought. At first the story was about a young, 80s-style female manager, which didn't really appeal to Director Lee. But eventually President Jung Seung-Hye (of Morning Films) convinced him, especially as Park Joong-Hoon -- who once experienced the life of a DJ -- got involved. Then when the moment to cast someone next to Park came, the 20 year veteran made an interesting proposal: super-veteran Ahn Sung-Gi, who showed great chemistry with Park in three films: Park Gwang-Soo's fantastic 1988 film 칠수와 만수 (Chilsoo & Mansoo), Kang Woo-Suk's 1993 super-hit (relative to that period, obviously) 투캅스 (Two Cops) and of course Lee Myung-Se's 인정사정 볼것 없다 (Nowhere To Hide). It seemed like fate then, bringing the two together every 5 or 6 years. Ahn instantly accepted, liking the story for its low-key, bittersweet and invigorating mood. But that wasn't the only reason, as the good relationship between the top cast and crew members attracted him to the project. Good relationship because Director Lee joins once again with Park after 황산벌 (Once Upon a Time in The Battlefield), writer Choi Seok-Hwan of The King and The Clown, and DP Na Seung-Yong who worked on Lee's previous two films. The film already cast Punk Band No Brain, and even Lee will have a little role as a Chinese Restaurant Owner.
Although the setting is different, the scale is much smaller, and we're not dealing with Korean history, everything I've read about this film confirms Lee's style: stories about outsiders, people finding their voice despite the 'system', and that combination between Drama and Comedy which works more than perhaps any other director in Chungmuro, with the possible exception of Bong Joon-Ho. Lee's Radio Star started shooting recently, and although it's still too early to make predictions, the Chuseok Season might have its first big contender for potential smash hit. It will probably have to fight off gangsters -- 조폭마누라 3 (My Wife is a Gangster 3) with Shu Qi and Lee Beom-Soo -- musicals like 구미호 가족 (The Fox Family) and who knows what Hollywood blockbuster, but I'm already betting on him. Can he hit three homeruns in a row? The answer this September.
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INTERVIEW WITH PARK JOONG-HOON
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What were your feelings about the film at first?
Park Joong-Hoon: Last Spring President Jung Seung-Hye started talking about the film with me, and I liked this 'analogue code' it had. But of course I also liked it because I used to be a DJ in the past. It might be a story not fitting with today's generation of moviegoers, but I felt more attached to it myself.
Choi Gon and Park Joong-Hoon, they're both very different but also somewhat similar.
Park: I'm in my early forties, Ahn Sung-Gi is in his mid fifties. I don't think our film industry has too many roles for people our age. Generally we end up acting roles ten years younger than our real age, and I always felt a little sad about that, so you could say this project was really appealing to me and Sung-Gi because of that. After all I hosted a show on KBS Radio for a year in 87, and in the 90s I hosted a show on KBS2FM, and the memories are still vivid. I've been acting for 21 years, but you could say my career is similar to Choi Gon's. Because we went through similar things in the same period, then it's an analogy that works perfectly. I mean, I've had plenty of ups and downs in my career: repeating the same comedies over and over brought me to a slump, I had to bridge the gap after coming back from the US, I had a little redemption... many things happened over the years (laughs).
I heard you even have some experience on stage.
Park: Back in High School I was in a four-member band, before I started acting. I used 'Im Hyun-Woo' as a stage name, and about a year before starting my career, I sang at an army bar part time. I'd get paid 300,000 Won a month for a total of 600,000 Won, so it was big money back then. I'd usually sing trot medleys and the like.
How does it feel working again with Ahn Sung-Gi after seven years?
Park: Our friendship has gained depth, we're much more comfortable working together. We've known each other for 20 years, and Choi Gon and Park Min-Soo in the film have been together for 20 years. The situation is a little different, but the fundamental relationship between us and the two characters is very similar. Sometimes we feel as if we're shooting a documentary, in a way. But hey, we're happy.
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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR LEE JOON-IK
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When and how did you get involved in this project?
Director Lee Joon-Ik: This was Writer Choi Seok-Hwan's idea, we worked together in 황산벌 (Once Upon a Time in the Battlefield) and The King and The Clown. He's been telling me for years it was a nice little item, but I kept turning it down, because I didn't think much of it. We wrote a synopsis, and since President Jung Seung-Hye liked it, I joined this project officially. After all, even directors are just salarymen, so if they tell you to do something... you should do it. I guess that's my professional spirit showing up. You get up in the morning, go to work and shoot the film. That's about it.
What was it you didn't like at the beginning?
Lee: I have these preconceptions about scale, you know? Like, the story in something like Once Upon a Time in the Battlefield should be grandiose or something. 라디오 스타 (Radio Star) wasn't like that, so thinking about that was another big trap I could have fallen into, a big risk. If you look at The King and The Clown, then you can see that great desire for narrative, and that's a very important point to consider from a storyteller's point of view, that of creating a story. The key here is not what you want to tell through the film, but it's the size of the world encapsulating that story, that's the biggest problem. In my previous films that 'world' had to be big, I was forced to do that [by the setting], but with this film I'd have to get rid of that completely.
So what you're saying is, this might be a Human Drama, but it has its own peculiar message to deliver and 'world view', as you said.
Lee: More than a world view, I thought I'd have to start with two people's view. Choi Gon and Park Min-Soo as two characters, and all their feelings, the reasons why they stick together, each character's story and how they got there, and how all that combines to form a relationship, a sort of world view in itself. You could say I'm becoming a little more on the minimalist side.
Is there any connection between the small town in Kangwon Province and radio as a medium?
Lee: Definitely. At the beginning, radio was a symbol of mass media. I think people started noticing that kind of power created by people assembling together when Baek Nam-Joon started doing his Video art. TV just happened to capture that kind of power much faster than Radio or exhibitions and concerts could. Right now radio is losing importance as medium, with the online world slowly gaining ground. If you look at it in local terms, then it's a rock singer from the 80s working as a DJ in an old-fashioned Radio station in a small town in Kangwon Province. There's two kinds of minorities: those outsiders who can't approach insiders yet, and outsiders completely separated from the insiders. If Once Upon a Time in The Battlefield and The King and The Clown dealt with the former, Radio Star deals with the latter. So even if there's a certain flow between the stories, all dealing with outsiders, the narrative in this film is minimalist. That doesn't mean the message in the film is by any means less important, mind you.
Even if Park Joong-Hoon was a really serious detective in Nowhere To Hide, all those playful elements added to the film attracted people's interest. But when he tried traditional Drama or very serious roles, then people weren't interested.
Lee: Yeah, just look at 세이 예스 (Say Yes). He couldn't completely get rid of his humorous side, but he didn't try to make people laugh on purpose either. Park Joong-Hoon has it all: humour, ad-lib, the ability to act traditional drama, and more. I mean, in 20 years of playing leading characters, is there anything he hasn't done before? It's that he has a certain aura as an actor, so the key is whether you want to adapt the character to his aura, or do the opposite and let Park embody the aura of the character. Then again, this singer is a little on the funny side, so even when he's serious, the situation ends up being funny anyway. This is where the harmony between Choi Gon, Park Min-Soo and all the other characters around them plays a crucial role. I'm not trying to shove Park's comic style into the character's frame or worrying if he'll fit the character's personality.
Any particular film that convinced you Park and Ahn worked well together, then? And how does this film differ from that?
Lee: I see all the characters they played in their three films together as people dealing with that particular situation. That is, characters influenced by the situations they face. If I couldn't find what's different in this film, then there would be no purpose in making it. Is this famous couple coming back after 7 years because they like the story? Not necessarily. It's just that they'll be able to portray the kind of connection they were never able to do in the past [the two play rivals in Nowhere To Hide, and in both Chilsoo and Mansoo and Two Cops they sort of highlight two characters coming from different worlds, in a way. This would be the first time when both characters share the same 'world view', then] That's why they were attracted to this project. This idea of a DJ and Manager working at a small Radio station in the countryside needed two actors who could effectively portray two characters who spent a long time together. All the hard work those two went through to prove themselves to the world, no matter if their dream was to become a singer, a director or a salaryman. Those 20 years spent fighting and enduring all the difficulties in life, it's like depicting a cross section of society.
This film must be a big burden because of the success of your previous film.
Lee: I feel no burden at all, it's just another film anyway. People who've gone through ups and downs in life just see success and failure as something happening in those situations, and nothing more. The same was true for The King and The Clown, and even when I failed big with 공포택시 (Ghost Taxi), nothing changed in my life. It was just something that happened back then.
So other than paying back your debts, the success of The King and The Clown brought no changes whatsoever to your life?
Lee: And that's exactly what's so great about it. 'Other than my debts'? Try having 3 Billion Won of debts to pay back...
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라디오스타 (Radio Star)
Director: 이준익 (Lee Joon-Ik)
Cast: 박중훈 (Park Joong-Hoon), 안성기 (Ahn Sung-Gi), 최정윤 (Choi Jung-Yoon), 윤주상 (Yoon Joo-Sang), 정규수 (Jung Gyu-Soo), 정석용 (Jung Seok-Yong)
Movie Stills/Posters
Produced by: 씨네월드 (Cineworld)
CRANK IN: April 19
RELEASE: Chuseok Holidays
[Cine21, Movieweek, Movieweek]